Main menu

You are here

Remotely Download Your 24/7 Time Lapse Photos

If you have setup your Android device connected to a power supply (e.g. solar panel battery) to take photos using 24/7 Time Lapse at a remote location, the last thing you want to do is to go back there to retrieve your photos. In order to estimate the power output of the solar panel you need, we suggest you do a fully charge your phone and drain the battery completly using our app under similar condition as you would expect it to be used in, so that you can estimate the amount of power your phone consumes from the length of time your phone lasted. With this information, you can calculate the minimum power rating of the solar panel you requires. We suggest you take a look at this page for examples of such calculations.

Assuming the place where you have positioned your Android device have access to 3G or WIFI internet, there are many applications you can use to automatically upload the photos taken to an online server, so that you can download it from there anywhere in the world with internet access. Below is some examples of such applications. Make sure you test the application you intend to use to make sure it doesn't drain your battery and works as intended.

Method 1: Background Sync (Novice)

Configure your Android device to run a background service to upload all the files specified in specific folder, i.e. the 247timelapse folder on your SDcard at specified intervals.

Check if the IP address shown on the site matches exactly to the one you see at step 1

If yes, you can continue to next step. If not, I am afraid you are behind a NAT router and you can't use this method because it is not possible to config port forwarding to your device. You can try to ask your carrier to provide assign an public IP to your 3G/4G service.

Select and install the ftp/http server application you want to use

Try to connect to your device now using your public IP address, it should work.

Unless you have static IP address for your 3G/4G internet which most people don't, you will find Dynamic DNS (DDNS) service useful.

Install a DDNS client app on your Android device and schedule it to run once every x hours.

Examples of http server Application

Examples of FTP Server

Check Your Battery Level Remotely

To check and make sure you don't drain your phone battery too much during remote access in case the charger is down. You need to know its current battery status.

Method 1: 24/7 Time Lapse Battery Imprint

If you have battery level imprinting enabled in 24/7 Time Lapse (enabled by default). Look at the most recent photo taken and look at the battery level written at the bottom of the photo. Once you have follow the guide above to setup remote access to your photos, you can check your battery level this way.

Method 2: Browser Based Device Access

Some app, such as Airdroid, 3CX DroidDesktopcan show you the battery level on its web interface, at the bottom right hand corner.

Method 3: Battery logging

Install a battery level logging app such as Battery Test, Simple Battery Logger which can records the battery level to a file which you can remotely download to look at the battery log.